IRB SEVENS WORLD SERIES 2009/10 STATISTICAL REVIEW IRB GAME ANALYSIS
This is a report on the leg of the IRB Sevens World Series 2009/10. It comprises a quantitative analysis of all elements of play together with the approach to, and performance of, all participating teams in various aspects of the game. The report looks, therefore, at such areas as: Scoring and the effectiveness of each team in attack and defence The source, origin and build up of tries Each team s possession times and percentages Each team s passes and rate of passing Each team s rucks and rate of rucking Each team s success and approach at rucks Each team s performance at Set Piece - Restarts, Scrums and Lineouts Plus data on Penalties, Free Kicks and Cards CONTENTS CURRENT STANDINGS RESULTS PLAYER STATIISTICS STATISTICAL SUMMARY STATISTICAL REVIEW & MATCH ANALYSIS PAGE 1 SCORING & CONCEDING POINTS PAGE 2 TRY SCORING PAGE 5 BALL IN PLAY & POSSESSION PAGE 6 ACTIVITY PAGE 10 SET PIECE PAGE 12 PENALTIES & FREE KICKS PAGE 13 CARDS Adelaide Cup Winners, Samoa, produced the following statistics: Samoa s average match score was 31 pts to 12 pts They had the best scoring rate with a try scored every 44 secs of possession and the 4 th best defence - it took opposition 94 secs to score against them. Samoa scored 29 tries (4 more than in Las Vegas) and conceded 12 in 6 matches. The current overall top try scorer, Samoan Mikaele Pesamino and team mate Fautua Otto scored 17 tries between them. They achieved a high passing rate passing 10.4 passes per minutes possession, however made few 5+ passing movements only 1 in 12.1. They avoided physical contact as they only had 2.0 rucks per minutes possession, averaging 7 rucks per game. Samoa competed well at rucks, winning 22% of opposition rucks. They committed 1 or more extra players in defence on 78% of occasions. They kicked contestable restarts 97% of the time and won 1 in every 2.5. Interestingly, Samoa were the highest kicking team, but they did regain 1 in 3 kicks.
2009/10 IRB SEVENS CURRENT STANDINGS DUB GEO NZL USA AUS HKG LON SCO TOT NZL 24 24 16 20 12 96 SAM 20 6 20 24 24 94 FJI 16 20 24 8 6 74 AUS 12 6 12 16 16 62 ENG 16 12 16 6 4 54 KEN 6 16 6 16 0 44 RSA 8 8 8 12 8 44 ARG 6 16 0 0 16 38 USA 0 0 0 4 20 24 WAL 4 4 4 6 6 94 CAN 0 0 6 0 0 74 MATCH RESULTS POOL TEAM SCORE TEAM KNOCKOUT TEAM SCORE TEAM Pool ENGLAND 12-17 AUSTRALIA Cup Final SAMOA 38-10 USA Pool NEW ZEALAND 47-7 ARGENTINA Plate Final NEW ZEALAND 21-14 SOUTH AFRICA Pool FIJI 21-7 KENYA Bowl Final ENGLAND 33-12 KENYA Pool SAMOA 12-12 SOUTH AFRICA Shield Final TONGA 19-22 JAPAN Pool USA 29-7 NIUE Cup S/F USA 28-12 ARGENTINA Pool SCOTLAND 7-22 TONGA Cup S/F SAMOA 26-12 AUSTRALIA Pool WALES 64-5 PNG Plate S/F WALES 0-29 SOUTH AFRICA Pool FRANCE 15-21 JAPAN Plate S/F NEW ZEALAND 24-21 FIJI Pool AUSTRALIA 36-0 USA Bowl S/F KENYA 36-12 SCOTLAND Pool ENGLAND 38-0 NIUE Bowl S/F FRANCE 0-19 ENGLAND Pool ARGENTINA 14-7 SCOTLAND Shield S/F NIUE 5-22 JAPAN Pool NEW ZEALAND 26-0 TONGA Shield S/F TONGA 45-0 PNG Pool KENYA 19-5 WALES Cup Q/F SOUTH AFRICA 14-17 ARGENTINA Pool FIJI 41-0 PNG Cup Q/F WALES 10-12 USA Pool SOUTH AFRICA 38-0 FRANCE Cup Q/F AUSTRALIA 26-22 FIJI Pool SAMOA 54-5 JAPAN Cup Q/F NEW ZEALAND 19-24 SAMOA Pool ENGLAND 21-24 USA Bowl Q/F JAPAN 15-21 SCOTLAND Pool ARGENTINA 19-17 TONGA Bowl Q/F KENYA 25-7 NIUE Pool NEW ZEALAND 31-0 SCOTLAND Bowl Q/F ENGLAND 47-0 PNG Pool KENYA 27-7 PNG Bowl Q/F TONGA 0-38 FRANCE Pool FIJI 12-17 WALES Pool SOUTH AFRICA 40-0 JAPAN Pool SAMOA 33-12 FRANCE Pool AUSTRALIA 40-5 NIUE
PLAYER STATISTICS POINTS SCORED TRIES SCORED Ben Gollings ENG 60 Mikaele Pesamino SAM 11 Mikaele Pesamino SAM 57 Sampie Mastriet RSA 9 Sampie Mastriet RSA 45 Fautua Otto SAM 6 Tomasi Cama NZL 40 Diego Palma ARG 6 Lolo Lui SAM 39 Innocent Simiyu KEN 6 2009/10 IRB SEVENS CURRENT PLAYER STATISTICS POINTS SCORED 2009/10 TRIES SCORED 2009/10 Ben Gollings ENG 247 Mikaele Pesamino SAM 39 Mikaele Pesamino SAM 197 Collins Injera KEN 25 Lolo Lui SAM 169 Renaud Delmas FRA 21 William Ryder FIJ 166 Ben Gollings ENG 21 Tomasi Cama NZL 140 Sherwin Stowers NZL 20
IRB SEVENS 2009/10 - STATISTICAL SUMMARY DUB 2009 GEO 2009 NZL USA AUS MATCHES 44 44 44 44 44 365 SCORING POINTS (average per game) 37 36 36 32 37 36 TRIES (average per game) 6.0 5.7 5.8 5.2 6.0 5.7 CONVERSION SUCCESS (%) 63% 62% 58% 62% 60% 62% PENALTY GOALS (total) 0 / 1 0 / 0 0 / 0 0 / 1 0 / 0 6 DROP GOALS (total) 0 / 0 1 / 2 0 / 0 0 / 2 0 / 0 2 TRY SCORING MATCHES WON by team scoring most tries (%) 91% 91% 91% 89% 86% 90% SOURCE OF TRIES - pens/fks (%) 29% 27% 38% 27% 34% 29% ORIGIN OF TRIES - own Half (%) 42% 44% 45% 40% 37% 42% BUILD UP TO TRIES no rucks/mauls (%) 61% 69% 69% 58% 60% 63% BUILD UP TO TRIES - 3 Or fewer passes (%) 57% 58% 56% 54% 56% 59% ACTIVITY BALL IN PLAY (%) 51% 52% 49% 49% 49% 50% PASSES (average per game) 68 72 67 68 68 67 5+ PASSING MOVENTS (rate) 1 in 7.2 1 in 8.0 1 in 7.5 1 in 9.7 1 in 8.0 1 in 7.9 RUCKS/MAULS (average per game) 17 18 15 17 16 16 RUCK/MAUL RETENTION (%) 79% 80% 83% 82% 86% 79% KICKS (average per game) 3.7 3.8 3.5 4.8 3.0 4 SET PIECE CONTESTABLE RESTARTS (%) 75% 79% 72% 38% 85% 74% CONTESTABLE RESTARTS REGAINED (%) RESTART ERRORS (total) 37% or 1 in 2.7 17 or 1 in 19 31% or 1 in 3.2 17 or 1 in 18 38% or 1 in 2.7 27 or 1 in 11 39% or 1 in 2.6 19 or 1 in 15 43% or 1 in 2.3 10 or 1 in 30 SCRUMS (average per game) 4 4 4 4 5 4 35% or 1 in 2.8 156 or 1 in 15 SCRUMS possession retained (%) 79% 85% 84% 82% 81% 85% LINEOUTS (average per game) 2 3 2 4 2 3 LINEOUTS possession retained (%) 82% 76% 72% 80% 71% 75% QUICK THROWS (total) PENALTIES/FREE KICKS & CARDS 12 or 1 in 8 9 or 1 in 8 12 or 1 in 7 18 or 1 in 10 11 or 1 in 9 PENALTIES (average per game) 5.0 5.3 6.6 5.6 6.2 6 106 or 1 in 8 CARDS (total) 3 + 0 16 + 1 12 + 0 8 + 1 17 + 0 108 + 3
1. SCORING & CONCEDING POINTS The average number of points scored in a game was 37. The average number of points scored/conceded by a team was 18.5 but, not surprisingly, there were major variations around this average. The Cup winners Samoa scored an average of 31 points per game while PNG managed just 2. With regard to points conceded, South Africa only conceded an average of 8 points per game while PNG conceded 44. Samoa s average score was 31 points to 12. The figures do not show, however, how effective each team was in scoring points in relation to the possession that it obtained and also, the figures do not show, how effective each team was in restricting points in relation to the possession that their opponents obtained. A team may, for example, obtain little possession but still manage to score a significant number of tries conversely a team may concede very few tries in the face of considerable opposition possession. Overall, in Adelaide a try was scored every 67 seconds of play (Dubai every 72 secs, George every 77 secs, Wellington every 71 secs and Las Vegas every 79 secs). Scoring rates are calculated (a) by dividing the total possession obtained by a team by the number of tries scored (b) by dividing the total possession obtained by a team opponents by the total number of tries conceded. The following table gives the relevant figures for each participating team. Samoa had the best try scoring rate, scoring a try every 44 seconds in attack and New Zealand had the best try conceding rate, conceding a try every 144 seconds in defence. Av POINTS SCORED Av POINTS CONCEDED TRY SCORING RATE TRY CONCEDING RATE SAM 31 12 SAM 44 secs NZL 144 secs ENG 28 9 NZL 49 secs RSA 133 secs NZL 28 11 AUS 50 secs ENG 130 secs AUS 26 13 FJI 54 secs SAM 94 secs RSA 25 8 ENG 56 secs FJI 93 secs FJI 23 15 RSA 57 secs KEN 87 secs KEN 21 14 KEN 61 secs AUS 86 secs WAL 19 16 JAP 79 secs TON 79 secs TON 17 19 USA 81 secs ARG 66 secs USA 17 20 WAL 83 secs WAL 65 secs JAP 14 26 ARG 85 secs USA 53 secs ARG 13 23 FRA 91 secs JAP 49 secs SCO 9 24 TON 106 secs SCO 48 secs FRA 13 22 SCO 137 secs FRA 46 secs NIU 5 31 NIU 199 secs NIU 46 secs PNG 2 44 PNG 297 secs PNG 40 secs IRB GAME ANALYSIS PAGE 1
There was no penalty goals or drop goals attempted. The overall conversion success rate was 60%. There were noticeable variations in the percentage success rates as seen in the attached table: Because of the relatively few tries scored, applying percentages can, at this stage, only be regarded as indicative. In addition, the location of the score can be a significant factor in achieving a successful conversion. This is the reason that the attached table has assigned a percentage success rate only to those teams that scored 16 tries or more. England had the highest success rate - 77% CONVERSION SUCCESS % CONVERSION SUCCESS % ENG 77% TON 47% RSA 74% KEN 41% NZL 73% JAP 5/15 SAM 69% ARG 6/11 AUS 62% FRA 5/11 FJI 58% SCO 6/7 USA 53% NIU 2/4 WAL 50% PNG 1/2 2. TRY SCORING There were 266 tries scored in Adelaide giving an average of 6.0 per game. (Dubai = 6.0 tries, George = 5.7 tries, Wellington = 5.8 tries and Las Vegas = 5.2) On Day 1 there were 143 tries scored (average 5.9) and on Day 2 there were 123 tries scored (average 6.1) 2.1 IMPACT OF TRIES With no penalty goals or drop goals and a conversion success rate of 60%, it was inevitable that tries would determine the winning team in the vast majority of cases and this proved to be the case. Of the 44 matches, 38 (or 86%) were won by the team scoring the most tries. There were 5 matches won because of conversions (Argentina v Tonga, France v Japan, Japan v Scotland, Australia v Fiji, and Wales v USA) and there was 1 Draw (Samoa v South Africa). 2.2 POSSESSION SOURCE OF TRIES The teams scoring the tries obtained possession of the ball prior to the scoring of the try from a variety of sources. This is shown: It can be seen that the most fruitful source of tries is penalties/free kicks (34%). The following table on the next page shows the possession source of tries scored (own) and tries conceded (opp) by each team: PENALTY/FREE KICK 34% 29% TURNOVER & ERROR 20% 18% RESTART 18% 22% SCRUM 17% 14% LINEOUT 9% 11% KICK RECEIPT 2% 6% IRB GAME ANALYSIS PAGE 2
PEN & FK T/OVER & ERROR RESTART SCRUM LINEOUT KICK TOTAL OWN OPP OWN OPP OWN OPP OWN OPP OWN OPP OWN OPP OWN OPP SAM 7 5 7 2 9 1 2 2 3 1 1 1 29 12 ENG 10 5 7 1 3 1 4 1 1 1 1 26 9 NZL 4 4 8 3 2 8 1 2 1 1 2 26 10 RSA 5 3 4 1 5 1 6 2 2 1 1 23 8 KEN 4 6 6 3 5 2 7 1 1 22 13 AUS 10 3 5 3 3 2 2 2 1 1 21 11 FJI 5 6 4 1 1 2 4 2 4 1 1 19 12 TON 10 7 2 3 1 2 3 4 1 2 17 18 USA 5 7 1 6 5 1 3 3 3 2 1 17 20 WAL 8 2 1 2 6 3 1 5 1 16 13 JAP 7 12 2 5 1 4 1 2 4 1 15 24 ARG 4 3 2 3 2 4 1 4 2 1 2 11 17 FRA 6 6 1 1 2 4 2 5 1 11 17 SCO 3 5 6 2 4 1 1 4 1 7 20 NIU 2 8 2 8 6 2 2 4 26 PNG 1 9 1 8 9 8 2 2 36 2.3 ORIGIN & LOCATION OF TRIES Tries originate from various parts of the pitch and are scored all across the try line. The following diagram shows the location on the pitch of where the attacking team obtained possession from which they eventually scored and where they were scored along try line. 37% of all tries originated in the try scoring team s own half and 38% were scored under the posts. LEFT OF POSTS 32% or 85 tries OWN HALF 37% or 98 tries HW to 10m 9% or 24 tries 10m to 22m 33% or 88 tries 22m to TRY 21% or 56 tries UNDER POSTS TRIES 38% or 100 tries RIGHT OF POSTS TRIES 30% or 81 tries IRB GAME ANALYSIS PAGE 3
The following table shows the origin of tries scored (own) and tries conceded (opp) by each team. The teams which scored a high percentage of their tries from their own half were New Zealand and Scotland. The teams which had a low percentage of their tries from their own half were Australia, Japan and Wales. OWN HALF HW 10m 10m 22m 22m - TRY TOT OWN OPP OWN OPP OWN OPP OWN OPP OWN OPP SAM 11 5 3 1 11 2 4 4 29 12 ENG 8 6 2 1 10 1 6 1 26 9 NZL 15 6 3 1 5 1 3 2 26 10 RSA 9 4 2 1 4 2 8 1 23 8 KEN 10 5 1 9 2 3 5 22 13 AUS 3 4 3 2 8 4 7 1 21 11 FJI 9 4 1 1 8 1 1 6 19 12 TON 4 9 2 3 7 5 4 1 17 18 USA 5 6 1 4 6 7 5 3 17 20 WAL 4 5 1 2 8 5 3 1 16 13 JAP 3 7 1 2 3 10 8 5 15 24 ARG 5 8 3 1 3 6 2 11 17 FRA 4 5 2 4 6 1 6 11 17 SCO 5 9 1 1 5 1 5 7 20 NIU 2 7 2 1 11 1 6 4 26 PNG 1 8 1 20 1 7 2 36 2.4 BUILD UP TO TRIES The table shows how many rucks/mauls preceded each try scored in the tournament. The table shows that 60% of tries were preceded by not one ruck or maul. It shows the total number of passes that preceded each try scored in the tournament. The table shows that 56% of tries were preceded by 3 or fewer passes. % CUMULATIVE % None 60% 60% 63% 1 rucks/mauls 23% 83% 86% 2 rucks/mauls 9% 92% 95% 3 + rucks/mauls 8% 100% 100% % CUMULATIVE % No passes 12% 12% 12% 1-3 passes 44% 56% 58% 4-6 passes 28% 84% 83% 7-9 passes 11% 95% 94% 10+ passes 5% 100% 100% IRB GAME ANALYSIS PAGE 4
When the build up to tries on day 1 is compared to day 2, the percentages show that teams had to pass more in the build up to tries but the percentage of tries with no rucks were similar on both days. Day 1: 61% of tries had no r/ms & 60% < 3 passes Day 2: 59% of tries had no r/ms & 52% < 3 passes AVERAGE B-I-P 6m 48s or 49% 6m 58s or 50% HIGHEST B-I-P LOWEST B-I-P HIGHEST POSSESSION TIME LOWEST POSSESSION TIME 3. BALL IN PLAY & POSSESSION 8m 40s (New Zealand v Tonga) 4m 35s (South Africa v France) 5m 53s (New Zealand v Tonga) 52s (Kenya v PNG) 9m 28s or 68% 4m 53s or 35% 7m 18s 1m 06s There was a considerable variation between the ball in play figures achieved by the various teams. This is shown in the following table which gives the average possession times achieved by each team throughout the tournament in attack and defence: As seen in the table, there were some noticeable differences. Wales and England averaged the highest, both averaging over 4 minutes possession per game, with PNG only averaging 1m 58s. Wales, USA, England, France and South Africa dominated possession in their matches, all averaging over 55% of total possession. PNG on average, only had 29% of possession in their matches in one match they only had 52s of possession. 50% of the teams spent more time attacking than defending. OWN AVERAGE POSSESSION % OPPONENTS AVERAGE POSSESSION WAL 4m 26s 61% 2m 49s 39% USA 3m 48s 56% 2m 56s 44% ENG 4m 03s 56% 3m 14s 44% FRA 3m 20s 56% 2m 36s 44% RSA 3m 36s 55% 2m 57s 45% KEN 3m 43s 54% 3m 08s 46% SAM 3m 32s 53% 3m 07s 47% AUS 3m 30s 53% 3m 09s 47% % SCO 3m 11s 50% 3m 13s 50% JAP 3m 17s 50% 3m 14s 50% FJI 3m 26s 48% 3m 43s 52% NZL 3m 31s 47% 3m 59s 53% ARG 3m 07s 46% 3m 43s 54% TON 3m 00s 43% 3m 57s 57% NIU 2m 39s 40% 3m 57s 60% PNG 1m 58s 29% 4m 50s 71% IRB GAME ANALYSIS PAGE 5
4. ACTIVITY 4.1 PASSING The average number of passes in a game was 68. The average number of passes by a team was 34 but, not surprisingly, there were major variations around this average. RATES & AVERAGES The table shows major differences between the teams. Such differences can however partly be explained by the amount of possession obtained by each team more possession means more passes. If possession is taken into account, therefore the rate at which each country passed the ball is far closer. Fiji, Kenya, and Argentina had the highest passing rate and England, USA and Niue had the lowest. South Africa on average passed nearly 50% more than PNG, but it can be seen that they passed at the same rate when possession is taken into account. PASSING MOVEMENTS Passes came in passing movements of which there were just over 1000. Of these passing movements: 24% comprised 1 pass 27% comprised 2 passes 23% comprised 3 passes 13% comprised 4 passes 12% comprised 5+ passes AVERAGE PASSES 68 67 HIGHEST PASSING MATCH 95 (New Zealand v Fiji) LOWEST PASSING MATCH 32 (France v Japan) PASSING RATE AVERAGE PASSES 115 35 5+ PASSING FJI 11.4 39 FJI 1 in 3.0 KEN 11.0 41 PNG 1 in 4.1 ARG 11.0 34 TON 1 in 5.3 SCO 10.7 34 FRA 1 in 5.6 TON 10.5 32 ARG 1 in 6.2 SAM 10.4 37 NZL 1 in 6.3 FRA 10.3 34 KEN 1 in 8.3 RSA 9.8 36 NIU 1 in 8.8 AUS 9.8 34 AUS 1 in 9.1 PNG 9.8 19 JAP 1 in 9.3 WAL 9.6 43 RSA 1 in 10.8 JAP 9.7 32 ENG 1 in 11.9 NZL 9.4 33 WAL 1 in 12.1 NIU 8.7 23 SAM 1 in 12.1 USA 8.6 33 SCO 1 in 12.4 ENG 8.3 34 USA 1 in 21.0 Most teams fell into this profile ie around 50% of their passing movements contained 2 or fewer passes. Where major differences arose, these were seen in the more lengthy passing movements. Of all passing movements, 1 in 8.0 contained 5+ passes (Dubai 1 in 7.2, George 1 in 8.0, Wellington 1 in 7.5 and Las Vegas 1 in 9.7). Certain teams were far more inclined to continue passing than others. This is shown in the above table which notes the proportion of 5+ pass movements to total number of passing movements made by each country. Fiji were the most likely to make a 5+ passing movement, they made 1 in every 3 passing movements, whereas USA and Scotland were least likely. IRB GAME ANALYSIS PAGE 6
4.2 RUCKS & MAULS The average number of passes in a game was 16. The average number of passes by a team was 8 but, not surprisingly, there were major variations around this average. RATES & AVERAGES AVERAGE RUCKS 16 16 HIGHEST RUCKING MATCH 28 (South Africa v Japan) LOWEST RUCKING MATCH 5 (Fiji v PNG) 31 SUCCESS % 86% 79% 4 The table below shows major differences in the average number of rucks/mauls created by each team. Some of this can be explained by the amount of possession obtained by each team. If this is taken into account, the rate at which each country rucked and mauled is far closer, as also shown in the table. This expresses rucks/mauls as rucks/mauls per minute possession. Wales had the highest rucking rate and Fiji had the lowest. USA on average rucked more than Scotland, but it can be seen that they rucked at the same rate when possession is taken into account. RUCKING RATE AVERAGE RUCKS SUCCESS % OWN RUCKS SUCCESS % OPP RUCKS WAL 3.2 14.0 KEN 94% 14% USA 2.8 10.8 ARG 92% 15% RSA 2.8 10.0 WAL 91% 8% SCO 2.8 8.8 RSA 88% 16% AUS 2.7 9.6 USA 88% 13% JAP 2.6 8.7 ENG 87% 17% NIU 2.5 6.6 JAP 87% 12% KEN 2.3 8.5 PNG 87% 0% ARG 2.3 7.2 SAM 86% 22% ENG 2.2 9.0 AUS 85% 20% SAM 2.0 7.0 NZL 85% 14% NZL 1.9 6.7 TON 82% 19% TON 1.8 5.5 NIU 79% 14% FRA 1.6 5.2 FJI 77% 11% PNG 1.5 3.0 SCO 77% 0% FJI 1.3 4.4 FRA 73% 17% RUCK SUCCESS At the breakdown, the team taking in the ball retained possession by either winning the ball or being awarded a penalty on 86% of occasions. The percentage success rate of each team in attack and defence are shown in the above table. IRB GAME ANALYSIS PAGE 7
In Attack, Kenya, Argentina and Wales had high success rates while Fiji, Scotland and France had low success rates. In defence, Samoa, Australia and Tonga won ruck possession from opponents on a number of occasions, while Scotland and PNG did not win possession at any opposition ruck. NUMBER OF PLAYERS COMMITTED TO RUCKS ATTACK & DEFENCE There are over 500 breakdowns in a tournament - and a breakdown occurs when at least one player from each side is on his feet at or over the ball. When the tackler is on his feet and an opponent joins in, then there is a breakdown. When the tackler is not on his feet, a breakdown occurs when at least one player from each side joins in. What became immediately noticeable was that there were clear differences in the approach of the various countries in committing players to the breakdown. While certain teams frequently committed few additional players, other countries consistently committed more. The extent of the differences between each team s approach is illustrated by an exercise that looked at how many players were committed to the breakdown (1) in attack and (2) in defence. Overall on average, the attacking team committed only 1 extra player on 74% of occasions and defending teams committed only 1 extra player on 57% of occasions. It can be seen that in the table below, in attack, Tonga committed only one player on 91% of occasions while England committed 2 or more players over 50% of the time. In defence, Scotland committed no extra players on 61% of occasions, whereas Niue committed 2 or more players in defence on 38% of occasions. (1) ATTACK (2) DEFENCE 1 PLAYER 2+ PLAYERS NO PLAYER 1 PLAYER 2+ PLAYERS TON 91% 9% SCO 61% 32% 7% NZL 88% 13% RSA 39% 50% 11% FJI 86% 14% FJI 39% 52% 9% SAM 86% 14% USA 34% 59% 6% KEN 84% 16% ARG 33% 63% 4% WAL 80% 20% NZL 32% 54% 14% USA 78% 22% WAL 31% 58% 12% RSA 77% 23% KEN 30% 56% 14% AUS 75% 25% FRA 29% 54% 17% NIU 73% 27% PNG 24% 64% 12% ARG 72% 28% AUS 23% 58% 20% SCO 70% 30% SAM 22% 62% 16% PNG 67% 33% ENG 22% 67% 11% FRA 62% 38% TON 21% 60% 19% JAP 56% 44% JAP 16% 62% 22% ENG 46% 54% NIU 2% 60% 38% IRB GAME ANALYSIS PAGE 8
4.3 KICKS Kicks include all kicks made in general play inc. punts, chips, ground (i.e. football kick) and grubber kicks. The average number of kicks in a game was 3.0. This is the lowest average so far this series, as the average in Dubai was 3.7, George was 3.8, Wellington was 3.5 and Las Vegas was 4.8. AVERAGE KICKS 3 4 HIGHEST KICKING MATCH 7 (3 matches) LOWEST KICKING MATCH 0 (2 matches) 16 KICK REGAIN RATE 1 in 2.4 1 in 3 0 As can be seen in the table below that Samoa, and Argentina kicked far more often than any other team while Niue, Fiji and Australia, on the other hand, kicked very little. Of the total kicks made by teams in open play, the attached table shows how many were regained. The overall kick regain rate was 1 in 2.4 this was the highest regain rate so far this series. (Dubai = 1 in 2.6, George = 1 in 3.0, Wellington = 1 in 3.4 and Las Vegas = 1 in 6.1) There were a wide variety of kicks as of all the kicks, 24% were chip kicks, 30% were punt kicks, 28% were ground kicks and 18% were grubber kicks. TOTAL KICKS KICKS REGAINED TOTAL CHIPS TOTAL PUNTS TOTAL GROUND TOTAL GRUBBER SAM 18 6 5 9 1 3 ARG 16 6 1 6 7 2 FRA 11 7 3 1 6 1 RSA 11 4 4 3 2 2 USA 9 4 2 4 1 2 ENG 8 4 5 2 1 TON 7 5 3 1 2 1 KEN 7 4 1 1 4 1 JAP 7 4 1 1 3 2 NZL 7 3 5 2 SCO 7 2 1 2 2 2 WAL 7 1 1 2 4 PNG 6 3 1 1 3 1 FJI 6 2 2 2 1 1 AUS 4 1 2 1 1 NIU 1 0 1 IRB GAME ANALYSIS PAGE 9
5. SET PIECE RESTARTS SCRUMS LINEOUTS RESTARTS SCRUMS LINEOUTS AVERAGE 7 5 2 7 4 3 HIGHEST IN A MATCH 12 11 5 11 10 7 LOWEST IN A MATCH 4 1 0 3 0 7 matches 0 30 matches SUCCESS % 43% 81% 71% 35% 85% 75% Restarts were classified into 2 types: 85% of restarts were kicked contestable 15% of restarts were kicked not contestable This is the highest percentage of contestable restarts so far this series as Dubai was 75%, George was 79%, Wellington was 72% and Las Vegas was 38%. Retention rates reflect the number of times that possession was retained at contestable restarts they varied considerably. The regain success was the highest so far this series - of all contestable restarts, the kicking team regained 43% or 1 in 2.3 (Dubai = 37%, George = 31%, Wellington = 38% and Las Vegas = 39%) REGAIN SUCCESS REGAINING RESTARTS CONTESTABLE NOT CONTESTABLE RECEIVING RESTARTS RECEIVE SUCCESS CONTESTABLE NOT CONTESTABLE AUS 1 in 1.5 81% 19% RSA 1 in 1.2 58% 42% WAL 1 in 1.5 95% 5% SAM 1 in 1.3 50% 50% FRA 1 in 2.0 100% 0% USA 1 in 1.3 88% 12% KEN 1 in 2.2 92% 8% WAL 1 in 1.4 81% 19% ARG 1 in 2.3 75% 25% ARG 1 in 1.5 85% 15% ENG 1 in 2.3 96% 4% ENG 1 in 1.5 86% 14% NZL 1 in 2.4 41% 59% KEN 1 in 1.5 94% 6% SAM 1 in 2.5 97% 3% AUS 1 in 1.6 87% 13% RSA 1 in 2.6 82% 18% SCO 1 in 1.6 86% 14% SCO 1 in 2.8 100% 0% FRA 1 in 1.7 100% 0% TON 1 in 2.8 89% 11% NZL 1 in 1.8 100% 0% FJI 1 in 3.0 86% 14% FJI 1 in 2.0 57% 43% USA 1 in 3.2 84% 16% JAP 1 in 2.0 88% 12% JAP 1 in 3.4 100% 0% TON 1 in 2.0 84% 16% NIU 0 in 8 89% 11% NIU 1 in 2.2 92% 8% PNG 0 in 2 33% 67% PNG 1 in 2.4 94% 6% IRB GAME ANALYSIS PAGE 10
Australia and Wales were the most successful in regaining own short restarts and South Africa, Samoa and USA the most successful in receiving opposition short restarts. Niue was the least successful at regaining own short restarts, they didn t regain any of their 8 contestable restarts. There were only 10 restart errors or 1 in every 30 restarts. This is the lowest number and best rate so far this series. (Dubai = 17 or 1 in 14.0, George = 17 or 1 in 17.7, Wellington = 27 or 1 in 11.4 and Las Vegas = 19 or 1 in 14.6) In Las Vegas, there was at least one lineout in every match and for the first time there was as many lineouts as scrums. However in Adelaide there were 4 matches with no lineouts and there were more scrums than lineouts on average. Overall Scrum success was 81% and overall Lineout success was 71%. The following table shows the success rate for each team on own put/throw in and opposition put/throw in: SCRUM LINEOUT OWN OPP OWN OPP RSA 16/17 3/15 USA 8/11 3/11 NZL 13/17 0/7 ARG 6/11 2/5 FRA 13/17 3/16 TON 7/8 2/6 SAM 14/15 0/12 AUS 6/8 0/4 PNG 10/15 3/13 PNG 1/8 0/4 NIU 8/15 0/6 NZL 7/7 0/5 ENG 9/14 4/21 JAP 5/7 3/6 FJI 11/13 0/9 SAM 5/7 3/9 USA 10/11 5/13 RSA 4/7 3/11 WAL 10/11 3/11 ENG 5/6 3/6 SCO 9/10 4/9 WAL 5/5 0/3 TON 9/10 2/18 SCO 3/4 1/8 KEN 9/9 4/20 FJI 3/4 2/6 JAP 7/9 4/10 FRA 3/4 2/6 AUS 7/8 3/10 KEN 3/3 5/9 ARG 5/7 0/8 NIU 2/3 1/4 Kenya were the only team to win possession on everyone of their own scrum put in s and New Zealand, Wales and Kenya won everyone of their lineouts. USA won 5 of the 13 opposition scrum put in s and Kenya managed to steal 5 of the 9 opposition lineouts. There were 11 quick throws or 1 in 9 lineouts. IRB GAME ANALYSIS PAGE 11
8. PENALTIES & FREE KICKS The average number of penalties and free kicks per game (not inc restart free kicks) was 6.2 (Dubai 2009 = 5.0, George = 5.3, Wellington = 6.6 and Las Vegas = 5.6). What needs to be noted that absolute statistics and averages do not necessarily reflect the true degree of discipline or illdiscipline of a particular team. AVERAGE PENS/FKs 6.2 6 HIGHEST IN A MATCH 11 14 LOWEST IN A MATCH 1 0 (2 matches) The number of penalties can, for example, vary from match to match. Some referees penalise more than others. A better and probably more accurate indicator, therefore, is the proportion of penalties conceded by a team in all their matches compared with their opponents. Each team s proportion % for and against can be seen in the following table together with the totals and averages per game. It can be seen that Wales were awarded more penalties than they conceded and PNG and New Zealand conceded more. PENS & FKS FOR PENS & FKS AGAINST TOTAL AVERAGE % TOTAL AVERAGE % WAL 25 5.0 71% 10 2.0 29% AUS 22 4.4 67% 11 2.2 33% ARG 20 4.0 61% 13 2.6 39% TON 23 3.8 58% 17 2.8 43% RSA 22 3.7 54% 19 3.2 46% FRA 16 3.2 53% 14 2.8 47% SCO 18 3.6 51% 17 3.4 49% USA 19 3.2 51% 18 3.0 49% ENG 19 3.2 50% 19 3.2 50% JAP 21 3.5 50% 21 3.5 50% KEN 14 2.3 47% 16 2.7 53% SAM 17 2.8 45% 21 3.5 55% NIU 12 2.4 44% 15 3.0 56% FJI 9 1.8 33% 18 3.6 67% NZL 11 1.8 28% 29 4.8 73% PNG 6 1.2 27% 16 3.2 73% Of the penalties awarded 54% were awarded at the breakdown (Dubai = 68%, George = 61%, Wellington = 56% and Las Vegas = 61%). There were 149 breakdown penalties awarded, 68% were FOR the attacking team and 32% were AGAINST the attacking team (Dubai = 57% & 43%, George = 55% & 45%, Wellington = 74% & 26% and Las Vegas = 63% & 37%). IRB GAME ANALYSIS PAGE 12
Of all penalty decisions, 85% of Penalties and Free kicks were tap kicks and 15% were kicks to touch there were no Penalty Goal attempts. (Dubai = 83% & 17%, George = 84% & 16%, Wellington = 87% & 13% and Las Vegas = 71% & 29%) The average number of penalties and the total number of cards awarded by the 8 participating referees was as follows: MATCHES AVERAGE PENS & FKS PER GAME TOTAL YELLOW/ RED CARDS ASO 5 5.4 2 BOLABIU 6 8.5 3 BRIANT 6 6 1 FRASER 5 6.8 2 HIRABAYASHI 5 5.8 2 LEES 5 + 5.2 + 1 final 6 1 PASTRANA 6 6.5 5 SMORTCHEVSKY 5 5.2 1 There were 17 yellow cards and 0 red card issued. This year, 11 of the 16 teams conceded at least one card, as seen in the table. The offences for which yellow cards were awarded were as follows: Dangerous Tackle/Charge 11 Ruck Offence 4 Tripping/Stamping 1 Unsportsmanlike 1 The following table shows the number of yellow and red cards awarded at each leg of the IRB Sevens: 9. CARDS YELLOW CARDS NZL 4 AUS 2 FJI 2 PNG 2 KEN 1 USA 1 ARG 1 SAM 1 NIU 1 TON 1 RSA 1 RED CARDS YELLOW & RED CARDS 2009/10 CITING SUSPENSIONS 2009/10 CARDS DUBAI 3 + 0 2 12 + 0 GEORGE 16 + 1 1 18 + 1 WELLINGTON 12 + 0 4 23 + 1 USA 8 + 1 3 15 + 0 17 + 0 1 9 + 0 HONG KONG 14 + 0 LONDON 6 + 0 ENG - FRA - SCO - WAL - JAP - TOTAL 17 0 SCOTLAND 11 + 1 108 + 3 IRB GAME ANALYSIS PAGE 13